Man arrested after UTC student killed in robbery at Hixson Pike apartment complex

Chattanooga police work a shooting Tuesday afternoon at River City North Apartment Homes in the 3800 block of Hixson Pike.
Chattanooga police work a shooting Tuesday afternoon at River City North Apartment Homes in the 3800 block of Hixson Pike.
photo Mohammad Sharifi

Just hours after he was suspected of killing a UTC student Tuesday in Hixson, the alleged shooter took to Facebook to share a local TV news story about the attack.

The accompanying message? A series of four laughing emojis.

"You shared this and laughed?" wrote one commenter. " ... I hope they never let you out since you don't have any respect for living breathing human beings."

Later Tuesday, police arrested 20-year-old D'Marcus White and charged him with criminal homicide and aggravated robbery in the shooting death of 24-year-old Mohammad Sharifi.

Police say Sharifi was trying to sell his XBox One to White when he was shot and killed in the parking lot of a Hixson Pike apartment complex.

The incident happened at 12:18 p.m. at River City North Apartments, 3825 Hixson Pike. When police arrived on scene, they found Sharifi lying in the parking lot, unresponsive.

Sharifi, whose address is listed in Brentwood, Tennessee, was taken to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead.

Police connected White to the crime scene after searching Sharifi's cellphone and finding that he'd been in contact with White via Facebook Messenger about buying the XBox, which was listed on the Facebook Marketplace for $200, according to Sharifi's post.

photo D'Marcus White
photo Chattanooga police are investigating a shooting at River City North apartments on Hixson Pike.

"Xbox one S with original power cord and Xbox HDMI cord," the post read, accompanied by photos of the white video game console displaying a Turtle Beach sticker. "Also comes with Xbox headset."

When police searched Sharifi's vehicle, the XBox was nowhere to be found.

Police located White at about 2:30 a.m. on Wednesday, according to court records. He was in a home in the 500 block of Latimore Street, about 8 miles from where Sharifi was shot.

White admitted to contacting Sharifi with the purpose of robbing him of the XBox One, court records show. He told police he shot Sharifi in the back during the robbery, and told them where to find the gun he used, as well as the XBox. Police recovered both items.

He was charged and taken to the Hamilton County Jail where he is being held on a $250 million bond, according to online jail records.

White has been arrested at least twice before - once in 2016 and once in 2018 - in Hamilton County, according to online court records. Those charges are for assault, domestic assault and disorderly conduct.

Sharifi's death marks Chattanooga's fourth homicide of 2019. By this time last year, there had been three.

On Wednesday, the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga confirmed Sharifi was enrolled as a student this semester and lived off-campus. The university is trying to follow up with students who were friends of Sharifi's, said Yancy Freeman, UTC vice chancellor of enrollment management, student success and student affairs.

"We have extended our condolences to the student's family and to those who knew him and to the community," Freeman said.

Contact staff writer Rosana Hughes at rhughes@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6327 with tips or story ideas. Follow her on Twitter @Hughes Rosana.

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